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Unit 10: Max Muller: “What Can India Teach Us?” Unit 10 Max Muller: ‘‘What Can India Teach Us?’’ UNIT 10: MAX MULLER: “WHAT CAN INDIA TEACH US?” UNIT STRUCTURE 10.1 Learning Objectives 10.2 Introduction 10.3 Max Muller: The Orientalist 10.3.1 His Life 10.3.2 His Works 10.4 Explanation of the Essay 10.5 Major Themes and Narrative Style 10.6 Let us Sum up 10.7 Further Reading 10.8 Answers to Check Your Progress 10.9 Model Questions 10.1 LEARNING OBJECTIVES After going through this unit, you will be able to: appreciate the prose piece “What can India teach us?” in its proper context describe the life and works of Max Muller analyse the major themes of the prose piece gain an idea about its narrative style 10.2 INTRODUCTION In this unit, we will analyse the prose-piece entitled ‘‘What can India teach us?’’ which is one of a series of lectures delivered by Max Muller to the candidates for the Indian Civil Service, upon an invitation received from the Board of Historical Studies at Cambridge. In this speech, he attempts to situate the contribution of India towards the gradual flowering of world civilisation through the ages. This lecture was supposed to acquaint the aspiring civil servants who would be sent to British India to carry on with the 104 Prose (Block 2) Max Muller: ‘‘What Can India Teach Us?’’ Unit 10 administration of the country, and who have been thoroughly educated in Greek and Latin, with the marvels of Sanskrit literature and culture. 10.3 MAX MULLER: THE ORIENTALIST The following sub-sections will discuss the life and works of Max Muller, the Orientalist. 10.3.1 His Life Max Muller was born on December 6, 1823 in Dessau, Germany. His father, Wilhelm Muller was a renowned Romantic poet of the time. His mother, Adelheide Müller belonged to the family of the then Chief Minister of Anhalt-Dessau. Max Muller received his education in Philosophy from Leipzig University from where he received his Ph.D. in 1843 for a dissertation on Spinoza’s Ethics. He was well-versed in Greek and Latin, and equally proficient in the knowledge of Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit. Muller studied Sanskrit under the tutelage of Eugene Burnouf. It was Burnouf who encouraged Muller to compile and publish the complete Rig-Veda in Sanskrit. In 1846, Muller moved to England to study the Sanskrit manuscripts in the collection of East India Company. After 1860, he set about working on the translation of the Rig Veda. He prepared simultaneously notes and commentaries on themes in comparative philosophy and mythology. Throughout the last thirty years of his life, Indology remained the central focus of his research. In 1868, Muller was the first one to occupy the chair of Comparative Philology at the University of Oxford. This was followed by the publication of Introduction to the Science of Religion in 1873. He contributed immensely to the on-going spurt of research activities in the Vedic studies in Europe, in which the processes of language and culture were not seen as parallel courses, but rather Prose (Block 2) 105 Unit 10 Max Muller: ‘‘What Can India Teach Us?’’ as emanating from the same field of factors. Muller traced the ancestry of the Indo-European language groups to the ancient Vedic culture of India. After publishing The Six Systems of Hindu Philosophy in 1899, Max Muller passed away at his home in Oxford the following year. 10.3.2 His Works Max Muller made a significant contribution to the contemporary scholarly discourses in Indology and Comparative Philology. Some of his important published works include The Sacred Books of the East (1878-1894, 50 vols.), Rig Veda (1849-1873, 6 vols.), A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature So Far As It Illustrates the Primitive Religion of the Brahmans (1859), Lectures on the Science of Language (1864, 2 vols.), Chips from a German Workshop (1867-75, 4 vols.), Introduction to the Science of Religion (1873), India, What can it Teach Us? (1883), Biographical Essays (1884), The Science of Thought (1887), Six Systems of Hindu Philosophy (1899), Four volumes of Gifford Lectures (Collected Works, vols. 1- 4): Natural Religion (1889), Physical Religion (1891), Anthropological Religion (1892), and Theosophy, or Psychological Religion (1893), his two volumes of biographical reflections Auld Lang Syne (1898), My Autobiography: A Fragment (1901) and The Life and Letters of the Right Honourable Friedrich Max Muller (1902, 2 vols.) CHECK YOUR PROGRESS Q 1: Say True of False: a. Max Muller received his education in Philosophy from Leipzig University. T/F b. In 1868, Muller was the first one to occupy the chair of Comparative Philology at the University of Oxford. T/F c. Max Muller did not make any significant contribution to the contemporary scholarly discourses in Indology and Comparative Philology. T/F 106 Prose (Block 2) Max Muller: ‘‘What Can India Teach Us?’’ Unit 10 d. Muller’s My Autobiography: A Fragment was published in 1902. T/F Q 2: List the names of the works written by Max Muller. ……………………………………………………………………………. 10.4 EXPLANATION OF THE ESSAY The text “What Can India Teach Us?” is a lecture which was delivered by Muller for the candidates of the Indian Civil Service. As an Orientalist, Muller raises the question of pursuing Sanskrit or the study of “ancient poetry, the philosophy, the laws, and the art of India” in comparison to the excitement involved in the study of Greek or Latin in the West, Britain in particular. At the same time, Muller also points out that many countries of the West like France, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Sweden and Russia are enthusiastic towards the study of ancient Indian literature. However, he laments the notion that scholars of Indian literature are not considered to have sufficient calibre in Britain. Thus, the idea of being ‘Indian’ restricts the work of an Oriental scholar. This lecture by Muller is an attempt to break down this rigid notion about India as being represented in the West. In order to do so, Muller first of all emphasises on the importance of the ancient Sanskrit literature which is vast as well as rich in terms of its encompassing knowledge and wisdom. Instead of comparing Indian literature with other literatures, Muller positively deals with how Indian literature has the potential to shape the minds of people across the globe. Interestingly, his Orientalist inclination defines his preference for India. Muller points out that “a study of Sanskrit literature has its own purpose” and also adds that “Sanskrit literature, if studied only in a right spirit, is full of human interests.” As the lecture was intended for the Civil Servants, Muller’s lecture emphasises on how developing interest in Sanskrit literature can contribute to both their understanding and knowledge. This allows them to cope with the Indians in a better way. In the course of his lecture, he justifies his views regarding the choice of Indian literature. His Prose (Block 2) 107 Unit 10 Max Muller: ‘‘What Can India Teach Us?’’ main concern is ancient India, two to three thousand years ago, and not urban India. He particularly focuses on “India of the village communities, the true India of the Indians”. In acknowledging the importance of Sanskrit, he appreciates the wide range of Indian literature which can be applied to any branch of knowledge because it provides an insight into the deeper thought as well as sympathies of the human mind. Through such a representation of India, Muller shatters the idea of India as depicted in the West of being a ‘distant’, ‘strange’ or ‘curious country’. No other literature can surpass Indian literature in its study of the history of human mind. Any kind of discipline, be it language or philosophy owes its origin to India. Muller tries to highlight the concept of liberal education. To him, a subject like History should be “freely interpreted” in any educational institution– combining examples from countries of both East and West. According to him, a European without any knowledge of “the Jews, the Greeks, and the Saxons” cannot be considered as ‘enlightened’ since Europeans owe a lot to them right from religion to alphabets and so on. But India is not the intellectual ancestor of Europe as Greece or Egypt. However, he claims that the study of ancient Sanskrit literature of India can provide the Europeans with the “missing links” in the history of human mind. In fact, study of Sanskrit, to him, should be cultivated for its “antiquity” which shall definitely help them to understand the history of their own language because Sanskrit sprang from the same branch as Greek or Latin. Sanskrit was indeed known to all even before Greek. Muller thus emphasises that a common source of language can unite the Europeans with the Indians. He also describes how as a child himself, Muller was surprised to know that Sanskrit can be paralleled to not only Greek and Latin but also German and Russian. Therefore, Muller justifies his emphasis on the knowledge of India as a necessary step towards liberal education. The study of Sanskrit has its own definite share in adding to the historical consciousness of all the Europeans. Hence, Muller concludes his lecture by pointing out that the science of language which has been fostered by Sanskrit literature is like the key to 108 Prose (Block 2) Max Muller: ‘‘What Can India Teach Us?’’ Unit 10 the treasures of ancient knowledge ranging from the arts, sciences and history. Through this lecture, Muller tries to inculcate in the Civil Servants a ‘homely’ and ‘brotherly’ feeling about India where they are to serve for the next few years of their life.
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